System and methods for reconstituting an object in a runtime environment using heap memory

Abstract

Methods, systems, and computer-readable media are disclosed herein to provide for reconstituting an object from raw data in a heap dump. Embodiments herein provide for retrieving raw data from a managed heap dump, where the raw data corresponds to an object. The raw data is retrieved from the heap dump and loaded into a running computer application within a runtime environment, in embodiments. The raw data is transformed, in some embodiments, by regenerating the actual object from the content of the object that is represented in the raw data, through the running computer application. Various utilities may then be used on the regenerated object to reveal the internal structure of the object for program logic diagnosis, in embodiments.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . One or more non-transitory computer-readable media having executable instructions embodied thereon that, when executed by a processor of a computing device, perform a method, the method comprising:
 receiving raw data representing an object at a virtual machine, the raw data received from a heap dump;   transforming the raw data into an object in the virtual machine; and   executing a call or a method on the object.   
     
     
         2 . The media of  claim 1 , wherein the heap dump is a Java-formatted heap dump. 
     
     
         3 . The media of  claim 1 , wherein the virtual machine is a Java virtual machine. 
     
     
         4 . The media of  claim 1 , wherein the object in the virtual machine is an instance of a class, wherein the object exhibits a behavior of the class in the virtual machine. 
     
     
         5 . The media of  claim 1 , wherein the raw data represents content of the object. 
     
     
         6 . The media of  claim 5 , wherein transforming the raw data into the object comprises generating, from the raw data that represents content of the object, a string that represents the content of the object. 
     
     
         7 . The media of  claim 6 , wherein executing the call or the method on the object comprises printing the object to string. 
     
     
         8 . The media of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving a query that specifies a particular object identifier to be retrieved from the heap dump, wherein the object identifier is an object name or a memory address; and   in response to the query, extracting the raw data that represents the object that corresponds to the particular object identifier from the heap dump.   
     
     
         9 . The media of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 executing a reflection application programming interface that calls at least one of a particular object class, a particular field, or a particular value to be retrieved from the heap dump; and   extracting the raw data that represents all objects that correspond to the at least one of the particular object class, the particular field, or the particular value from the heap dump.   
     
     
         10 . One or more non-transitory computer-readable media having executable instructions embodied thereon that, when executed by a processor of a computing device, perform a method, the method comprising:
 receiving an indication of an object identifier;   identifying raw data that represents an object corresponding to the object identifier in a heap dump;   loading the raw data that represents the object into a virtual machine; and   transforming the raw data into the object within the virtual machine.   
     
     
         11 . The media of  claim 10 , wherein the object identifier is an object name, an object address, a class, or a field. 
     
     
         12 . The media of  claim 10 , wherein the heap dump is a Java-formatted heap dump that stores the raw data, and wherein the virtual machine is a Java virtual machine. 
     
     
         13 . The media of  claim 10 , wherein the raw data represents content of the object, wherein the object in the virtual machine is an instance of a class, and wherein the object exhibits a behavior of the class in the virtual machine. 
     
     
         14 . The media of  claim 13 , wherein transforming the raw data into the object comprises generating, from the raw data that represent the content of the object, a string representation of the content of the object. 
     
     
         15 . The media of  claim 14 , further comprising executing a call or a method on the object by printing the object to string. 
     
     
         16 . The media of  claim 15 , wherein the string specifies a value for the object. 
     
     
         17 . The media of  claim 10 , wherein loading the raw data into the virtual machine comprises placing the raw data into a running computer application. 
     
     
         18 . The media of  claim 17 , wherein the running computer application transforms the raw data into the object, wherein the running computer application utilizes class information to automatically identify an internal structure of the object, and wherein when a call is made on the object to print a string representation, the string representation is output that provides the internal structure and value of the object. 
     
     
         19 . A system comprising:
 one or more processors configured to:
 receive input that identifies an object; 
 locate raw data that represents the object identified from the input; 
 retrieve the raw data that represents the object from a heap dump; 
 load the raw data that represents the object into a virtual machine; 
 transform the raw data into the object within the virtual machine; and 
 execute a call or a method on the object. 
   
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 19 , wherein executing the call or the method on the object comprises printing the object to string.